


The Relationship Session

by Tara_Moeller_69



Series: The Crossroads Center [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Counseling, Gen, Lost Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-01
Updated: 2015-10-01
Packaged: 2018-04-24 05:10:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4906741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tara_Moeller_69/pseuds/Tara_Moeller_69
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>But, Sam doesn't want to talk, or does he?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Relationship Session

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: unbeta'd, unedited, unproofed. Not my characters, but they're doing what I tell them to do.

The secretary poked her head around the just-opened door. "Sir, your two o'clock has arrived."  
  
"My two o'clock?" The counselor cleared his roughened voice. "I have a two o'clock?"  
  
"Yes, sir. I made it with a new client yesterday. Remember, I mentioned it after lunch?"  
  
"Yes, yes. Who is my two o'clock, again?"  
  
"Mr. Sam Winchester, sir. He's here for relationship counseling."  
  
"He's alone?"  
  
Dorothy glanced back at Sam, a small, weak smile curving her lips. "Um, yes sir."  
  
A deep sigh echoed from the room. "Relationship counseling needs both parties."  
  
"Dr. Eden, I think part of the problem is that he doesn't have a second party."  
  
There was silence from the room, then the dull slide of chair feet on carpet. "I see. Send him in. please."  
  
Dorothy backed up, leaving the door open. Turning, she nodded at Sam, her smile broadening but not extending to her eyes. She jerked her head. "Go on in."  
  
Same took a deep breath through his nose, held it a moment, and stood up, scuffling into the room, his hands stuffed hard into the pockets of his jean jacket. "Hey."  
  
Joshua Eden stood behind his desk, rapping the fingers of his right hand on the surface. A small would-be bonsai, planted in a shallow tray, was centered on the desk, miniature pruning shears set next to it. "Come in, Mr. Winchester."  
  
"Dr. Eden." Sam nodded and tried to smile. His stomach heaved, and he wondered what exactly he'd done by coming here.  
  
The counselor waved to a chair. "Have a seat."  
  
Sam dropped into the chair, keeping his hands in his pockets, leaning forward, bouncing his right knee in a quick tempo.  
  
The doctor watched that knee, taking his own seat. "Are you nervous, Mr. Winchester?"  
  
"Please, call me Sam."  
  
"Sam." Dr. Eden cleared his throat. "What are you hear to talk to me about?"  
  
Swallowing hard, Sam looked around the room, stopping his gaze on the various plants and books. "I was hoping you could help me with," he jerked his head, "relationships."  
  
The counselor leaned back in his chair, sliding his fingers to clasp his hands before his chest. "You have a problem with relationships?"  
  
"I guess." Sam kept his heel bouncing. It was like it had to, no matter what. Stopping that bounce would cause irreparable harm to - something.  
  
They were silent. Sam couldn't look the doctor straight in the eyes and kept swallowing his words. How could he explain that after Jess died by flames on the ceiling, he'd allowed himself to care for a werewolf he'd then had to kill, and then fallen for the plies of a demon with an agenda? Somehow, he thought, admitting he'd drunk human-demon blood on a regular basis would not be conducive to a peaceful session. It would likely result in a panicked phone call for an ambulance and a straight jacket.  
  
"You have problems in your relationships?"  
  
Sam sucked in a quick breath. He'd forgotten there was someone else in the room. "You could say that."  
  
"What would you say?" Dr. Eden smiled from over the green leaves of his too-big bonsai.  
  
"I've made some bad choices in relationships."  
  
"Always?"  
  
"No. Jess was," Sam blinked away a tear and swallowed whatever it was that clogged his throat, "she was perfect. But she died." Choking, he looked down.  
  
"Sam, sometimes it's hard to get over the death of a loved one."  
  
"I've lost a lot of loved ones." He hadn't meant to say that. Why did he say that? He couldn't look at the counselor.  
  
"We all do."  
  
"What?" Sam jerked his head up.  
  
"Everyone loses loved ones. It is part of life. Death. Inevitable for humans." Dr. Eden lifted a hand and brushed a single finger over the tiny leaves he's been pruning earlier.  
  
"Yes, but, Jess died in a fire, just like my mother. I mean, just like my mother." Sam dragged his hands from his pockets and rubbed them down his face.  
  
Humans? He'd said it like he wasn't.  
  
The counselor leaned forward, setting the tree aside. "That must have been difficult."  
  
"Yeah." Sam stared at the doctor. If he wasn't human, what was he?  
  
"Did you talk with someone when it happened?"  
  
"Sort of." Sam blinked, trying to concentrate on the question while getting a gander of the man's teeth. "I mean, I talked to my brother about it."  
  
"Was he helpful?"  
  
"Not really. He's not very good with his emotions."  
  
"I see." Dr. Eden picked up the mini shears and opened and closed them, watching the twin blades pass each other. "Was that your last relationship?"  
  
"Uh, no. That would be another," Sam swallowed again, "woman."  
  
"It didn't end well?"  
  
"She died, too."  
  
"Not a fire though?" Dr. Eden paused with the shears open, one finger testing an edge.  
  
"No, not a fire. She was stabbed."  
  
"Mugging?"  
  
"Um. no. Not a mugging." Sam shifted and shoved his hands back in his pockets. He couldn't tell the man it had been Dean, in an attempt to save him. That they'd been duped into helping a demon release Lucifer to start the apocalypse. Move on, move on. "The girl before her was, well," that would have been Meg, right? "she died, too. And the one before that." Madison. He could talk about Madison.  
  
"You weren't kidding when you said you've lost a lot of loved ones." The doctor set the shears down. "Did any of them die from natural causes?"  
  
"No." Damn. He'd had to shoot Madison. "Madison had a condition, though. But that's not what killed her."  
  
"A condition?"  
  
"Yes, it changed her." Maybe he should have sent Dean and Cas back to figure out if the counselor was involved in the recent deaths. This session was turning out to be a lot harder than he'd expected. Making an appointment to talk about his failed relationships had seemed so easy yesterday when he'd called. The whole thing had made sense. If Dr. Eden was involved in the deaths, he probably wouldn't be a very good counselor.  
  
Dean and Cas' relationship hadn't been that broken, so he'd though it being fixed after one meeting with Dr. Eden had just been a chance thing.  
  
Only now, he was turning out to be a very good counselor. He'd made him talk about things he really didn't want to talk about.  
  
"Sam? How did it change her?"  
  
Sam blinked. How could he put it that wouldn't make him wind up in the nut house? "It made her do things she wouldn't have normally done."  
  
"Ah. It was a mental condition?"  
  
Swallowing, Sam nodded. It was hard to lie about Madison' condition. It felt like he wasn't being true to her memory. "In part, anyway." There, that was a little better.  
  
"Let's get back to the woman who was stabbed-"  
  
"I don't want to talk about her."  
  
"That probably means you need to."  
  
Sam looked at the closed door. Surely the session should be over by now?  
  
"But that will need to be another time. Check with Dorothy; next week would be good." Dr. Eden stood and extended a hand, smiling.  
  
"Yeah, um, thanks." Sam squeezed the doctor's hand - hard. The man didn't react.  
  
So - was he human? Or something else?  
  
"How are your brother and his husband? They didn't make a follow-up appointment."  
  
Damn. They shouldn't have used their real names. "They're good. Getting better."  
  
"Happy to hear that. Is their happiness why you came in?"  
  
"What?" Sam's fingers went limp in the counselor's grip.  
  
"Has your brother finding his soul mate made you want to find your own?"  
  
Soul mate? Who mentioned soul mates? Dean and Cas didn't tell him anything about this counselor calling them soul mates.  
  
"Maybe. I guess it could have." Sam stuttered through his answer, wondering if that was indeed the reason he'd been thinking about his own relationships. There'd really been no one serious since Ruby. Oh, wait, yeah there was-  
  
"Don't worry, Sam. There is a plan for you. You just have to be patient." The doctor smiled and let go of Sam's hand. "Don't forget to check with Dorothy on your way out, if you want to continue this conversation."  
  
This conversation? About his past relationships? Or the idea that there was a plan for him?  
  
Sam nodded and shambled to the door, letting the creak of the hinge ripple down his spine.  
  
"Have a good day, Sam."  
  
"Thanks." Sam pulled the door closed and turned to the secretary. "I need to make a follow up appointment for next week."  
  
Makes sense. He didn't think the counselor was human, but he didn't know what else he was yet. He had to keep investigating, right?


End file.
